Russians evade Olympic doping tests

Informant claims a scheme involved dozens of crooked athletes

Associated Press

Published 11:06 pm, Thursday, May 12, 2016

Photo: Lee Jin-man

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FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2014, file photo, a man walks past a sign reading doping control, at the Laura biathlon and cross-country ski center, at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. The IOC "would not hesitate" to retest drug samples from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi if there is evidence that doping controls were manipulated, according to the Olympic body's medical director. A Russian whistleblower told CBS' "60 Minutes" that four Russian gold medalists from the Sochi Olympics used steroids and Russian security agents worked as doping control officers during the games. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File) ORG XMIT: NY172 less

FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2014, file photo, a man walks past a sign reading doping control, at the Laura biathlon and cross-country ski center, at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. The IOC ... more

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FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2014 file photo, a Russian skating fan holds the country's national flag over the Olympic rings before the start of the men's 10,000-meter speedskating race at Adler Arena Skating Center during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. A whistleblower who uncovered Russia's doping scourge says most of the changes in the country's track and anti-doping programs are, in his words, "just fake," and not extensive enough to allow the team into this summer's Olympics. Vitaly Stepanov, who along with his wife, Yulia, blew the lid off systemic doping in Russia, tells The Associated Press that about 80 percent of coaches in Russian track used doping to prepare athletes for London's Olympics. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) ORG XMIT: NY166 less

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2014 file photo, a Russian skating fan holds the country's national flag over the Olympic rings before the start of the men's 10,000-meter speedskating race at Adler Arena Skating Center ... more

Photo: David J. Phillip

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FILE- In this July 30, 2015 file photo, the IOC medical director Richard Budgett speaks to the Associated Press during an interview in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Budgett said the Olympic body "would not hesitate" to retest drug samples from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi if there is evidence that doping controls were manipulated. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File) ORG XMIT: LON150 less

FILE- In this July 30, 2015 file photo, the IOC medical director Richard Budgett speaks to the Associated Press during an interview in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Budgett said the Olympic body "would not hesitate" ... more

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Russians evade Olympic doping tests

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Russian officials took clean urine from athletes months before the Sochi Olympics, and used soda containers and baby bottles passed through a hole in the wall of a testing lab to evade doping tests, the former head of Russian's anti-doping laboratory told The New York Times.

Grigory Rodchenkov now in California and working with a filmmaker on a documentary gave the newspaper details of the elaborate scheme, which he said involved dozens of Russian athletes and officials and replaced tainted samples for at least three gold medalists.

The International Olympic Committee called Thursday's report "very worrying," saying Olympic officials would work with the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate.

Russia's track team is currently banned from international competition over doping allegations, and the sport's governing body will decide next month whether the team should be allowed to compete in Rio.

Rodchenkov's details add more evidence that the Russian government was deeply involved in attempts to cheat and cover up the doping.

He told the newspaper he was ordered to replace athletes' tainted samples with clean urine so that they would not fail drug tests. At night, when the laboratory in Sochi was not under observation, he said he passed tainted samples through a concealed hole in the wall to a man he believed to be an employee of the Russian security services.

The supposedly tamper-proof bottles were allegedly opened, filled with clean urine supplied by the athletes months before, and replaced. Samples are supposed to be anonymous during testing, but Rodchenkov said that athletes took pictures of doping forms so that the containers could be identified later.

The newspaper named three Russian athletes who won four gold medals in Sochi, saying their names were listed on a sheet of cheaters Rodchenkov provided. The spreadsheet was not published and The Associated Press could not verify it.

"They are outstanding athletes and the accusations are absurd," Mutko told the state Tass news agency. "The accusations against them are absolutely groundless. We will study this article and will decide how to react."

Rodchenkov also claimed he provided some athletes with a cocktail of steroids mixed with liquor, using Scotch whisky for men and vermouth for women.

"These allegations are very detailed and very worrying and we ask the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate immediately," the IOC said in a statement. "Based on the findings of a WADA inquiry the IOC will not hesitate to act with is usual policy of zero tolerance for doping and defending the clean athletes."

The IOC's medical director Dr. Richard Budgett said earlier Thursday, prior to the publication of the story, that the IOC was considering retesting samples from the Sochi Olympics. But according to Rodchenkov, the tainted urine was flushed down the toilet after it was replaced.

After a World Anti-Doping Agency commission accused Rodchenkov of a role in a separate doping cover-up in track and field in a report published in November, he resigned and moved to the U.S. Documentary filmmaker Bryan Fogel arranged his interviews with the newspaper.